I thought I had finally found my place in my husband’s family when we got married. But I had no idea that a simple act of kindness would come back to hurt me so badly that I would cry. Everything began when I chose to bring a dish to my in-laws’ family dinner that was based on a recipe my late mother had given me.
Giving my husband’s family a piece of a practice from my own would help us get closer. When I put the dish on the table, though, my mother-in-law’s face turned cold. “Get your mother’s food out of my house!” she said in an angry voice. It shocked me and made me feel bad and hurt.
With tears running down my face, I quickly got up and left the dinner table. As I waited for my husband in the car, I felt alone and separated. The ride home was quiet, and my husband didn’t seem to notice that I was upset. Then, out of the blue, he laughed, while having no idea how much pain he had just caused me.
I felt even more embarrassed and hurt after hearing him laugh. It was like getting punched in the gut. “Did you hear the joke my cousin told at dinner?” he asked, having already laughed. I couldn’t believe he was so relaxed and not affected by how I felt. When I thought about how far I still had to go to really be a part of his family, it hurt.
